


You Were Never Meant To Find Out

by FleaBee



Series: Just Wanted You To Know [2]
Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: F/M, Family, Gen, M/M, Revealed secrets, Rimmer as Ace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-01 15:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11489358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleaBee/pseuds/FleaBee
Summary: Holly never intended for Rimmer to find out that he didn't die on the Red Dwarf, yet these secrets have a way of coming out.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Betaread by StopTalkingAtMe

Sitting on the table in the shared room of Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer was a mail pod that had arrived the day before early in the evening. Rimmer was sitting at the table, piles of mail sorted for the crew despite being dead for a few million years and never would get the mail intended for them.

"Rimmer man, are you alright?" Lister asked his hologram bunkmate. "You've been looking at that mail pod for a long time. Did you even go to bed last night?" Lister noted that Rimmer hadn't sorted much more in the hours since he'd gone to bed.

Rimmed looked towards him, black beneath his eyes, clearly he hadn't gone to bed. Holograms were not meant to need sleep, but they'd found over the years that wasn't true for Rimmer. If he didn't get sleep he'd start to crack and act crazier than normal.

"Lister, this mail pod was sent for the ten year anniversary of the Red Dwarf radiation leak," Rimmer explained as if that should mean anything to Lister.

Lister took note of the letter in Rimmer's hand. Peeking over his shoulder to see what had him so shaken. He noticed who the letter was addressed to.

"Hey, that letters mine! Why are you reading my mail? Are you trying to get back at me for reading your diary?" Lister assumed.

"I opened this letter because it is my handwriting." Rimmer pointed to the handwriting in question. Lister could indeed see that it was Rimmer's handwriting. Rimmer continued on. "I don't remember ever writing this letter. Why would I write you a letter when we live together? How would I send a letter for the ten-year anniversary of the accident when I was dead on the ship and also not activated at that point. So I opened the letter to find out."

Lister took the letter from Rimmer and began to read out loud. "Dear Lister, I'm not ... sh-oore... if you ... will ever get this l-et-ter." Slowly, too slowly for Rimmer's liking. While Lister could read, it was a struggle for him to read anything out loud and fast.

Rimmer snatched the letter back. "I'll read it out myself. At this rate we will be here until Christmas, not that we really know when Christmas is anymore. It could be Christmas today for all we know." He cleared his throat before continuing where Lister left off. "As you know I was in preparations to leave for my father's funeral when you were put into stasis."

"Is this from another dimension?" Lister interrupted. "I mean you didn't find out your father was dead until after we'd been in deep space for a while."

"I know," Rimmer replied. "I thought that at first but one of the letters is from a few months after the accident talks about the stasis leak on floor sixteen and how we travelled back in time. It also talks about the second time we travelled back in time just before I stopped being Ace and had convinced Miss Kochanski to pretend to be your wife. It happened exactly as you described. If what these letters say is true and they are from this dimension. I survived, I got married and had a family."

"You married? She must be mad or you tricked her somehow. I bet she was ugly. Any pictures of your wife? I want to see what she looks like." Lister tried to go through the letters himself, to find Rimmer guarding them.

"You can see, but you're not going to like it and she'll be insulted to know that you thought she was ugly. "Rimmer pulled out a photo from one of the later letters and handed it over to Lister. He couldn't hide the smirk, knowing already how Lister would react.

Lister's jaw dropped when he looked. In the photo was Rimmer with a boy who looked to be between ten and twelve and twin toddler girls with red curly hair and the woman of Lister's dreams Kristine Kochanski who certainly wasn't ugly, he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the universe and that wasn't because she was currently the only woman in the universe.

"My children, the boy is named Michael, the girls Jasmine and Rebecca. Mikey, Jazz and Bec for short." Rimmer pointed to each child in the family before passing the next photo to Lister, a wedding photo.

"Is Yvonne McGruder holding your son's hand? Is she Kristine's bridesmaid? Didn't she die on the ship as well?" Lister asked.

Rimmer nodded. "She's meant to be dead. According to the letters, Yvonne survived because she was pregnant with Michael and had gone on maternity leave a few weeks before the accident happened."

"This has to be from another dimension. When the nano crew were resurrected you were with them as was McGruder. The only one missing was Kristine." Lister exclaimed he took a seat next to Rimmer trying to process everything that he'd just been told. Rimmer a father and married to Kristine? If it was Ace Rimmer he'd understand, but not Arnold Judas Rimmer.

"What was I missing from?" Kristine asked as she entered the dining room. She was not the Kristine whom Lister was referring to, this Kristine came from another dimension and had been stuck with them for a few years and biologically Lister's mother. "Anything interesting in the mail pod?"

"We're trying to determine if the mail pod is from another dimension or not," Lister explained. "Have a look at these two photos."

"Is that me married to Rimmer?" Kristine asked. "How in the world did that happen?" She looked like she didn't' believe the photos were real.

"Slowly," Rimmer replied. "They bonded during the enquiry about the accident according to the letter that version of me wrote to Lister. They kept in contact as friends and it was a couple of years after the accident that they became a couple. I spent all night reading them."

"It has to be from another dimension, I mean you died in the accident," Kristine pointed out.

"In your dimension, did Yvonne McGruder die?" Rimmer asked pointing to the bridesmaid.

"No," Kristine replied, taking a seat on Rimmer's other side. "She left the ship a few weeks before the accident happened."

"Do you know why she left the ship?" Rimmer asked, trying to determine the difference between their dimensions. In all the years he'd known Lister's mother, he never really spent time working out if there had been differences before the radiation leak. They'd just assumed that the timeline had been the same until just before the accident and the only difference being who went into stasis.

"No," Kristine replied once again. "It was rather sudden. I assumed that she got a transfer or something happened at home."

"What about me, did I die in your universe?"

"You'd left the ship for your father's funeral after I was put into stasis and before the accident," Kristine confirmed. "You were called to the office by Captain Hollister because he didn't believe your sister-in-law was your sister-in-law. I was meant to go with you to make sure you left the ship and didn't cause an incident while representing the JMC but I was found with the Frankenstein and put into stasis before you left. You ended up going alone."

Rimmer pondered aloud. "In these letters your other self and my other self left the ship together for my father's funeral, to make sure I didn't make a scene on company time. I wonder if the me from your universe went alone after you were put into stasis."

"I never thought to ask if someone else went with you when I was let out of stasis," Kristine admitted. "We can't really confirm what happened for my dimension."

"There's one way to confirm if the mail is for this dimension. Holly," Lister called out.

"What's up dudes?" Holly asked appearing on the screen.

"Holly," Rimmer stood up. "We have a mail pod," Rimmer said, pacing slightly in front of the monitor.

Holly nodded. "I know, I was the one you told you we had a mail pod."

"This mail pod was written by family and friends of the crew for the ten year anniversary of the crew's deaths," Rimmer informed the computer.

"That's a nice thing of them to do." Holly grinned.

Rimmer stopped his pacing and stared directly at the screen. "Can you tell me why there are letters written by me for Lister?" Rimmer asked. Holding up one of the photos of himself, Kristine and the children.

"Oh bugger, I never considered that the families would send letters after everyone was dead and that you'd send letters to Dave," Holly replied. "I mean ah it's not from you, it must be someone else. Another Rimmer who looks just like you Arn," Holly said not convincing anyone. The computer already knew he'd been caught in a lie as he tried to cover his tracks.

"Holly, what did you do?" Rimmer yelled out. "Did I die or not?"

"Yes you're dead, well now anyway," Holly replied. "Just not the way you thought. You didn't die on the Red Dwarf, you died of old age on Earth."

"Then why did you make me believe that I died on the Red Dwarf?" Rimmer shouted. "Has my whole existence been a lie?"

"I didn't plan on turning you on originally," Holly informed the three humans. "When I was going through the crew members who would be best to keep Dave sane I had two options. Yourself and Kristine Kochanski, both who were not on the ship when the accident happened."

"If Kristine was one of my options to keep me sane, why did you end up choosing Rimmer?" Lister asked. "Back then I would've preferred Kristine, still would."

"I had the scutters flip a coin to decided which one to turn on. The scutters were very upset that Arn won the coin toss." Holly replied. "I did want to turn both on and see if you ended up together Arn and Kristine, like your living counterparts. As you know at the time I could only turn on one of you."

"I'm only here because of a coin toss! So you've been letting me live a lie all these years!" Rimmer shouted. "I'm not even a real representation of the real Arnold Rimmer like I am supposed to be. I'm only the representation of him till the age of thirty-two. Do you know how it feels to know that I'm even faker than I originally thought?"

"That is why I made you believe Yvonne McGruder also died on the ship. I didn't want you to accidently find out about Michael." Holly explained. "It was for your own good and Dave's well-being. You would've ended up depressed and obsessing over the life you never got to live."

"Are you saying if I left the ship like I was supposed to I would've ended up with Rimmer?" Kristine asked in disbelief. She was still struggling to accept that she'd ended up with Rimmer in this universe or that any version of her would end up with Rimmer.

"It may not have happened like that," Holly replied. "Your dimension has other differences. We'll never really know since you ended up in stasis instead, we have no way of knowing what happened to that Arnold Rimmer and Yvonne McGruder."

"Our kids are adorable," Kristine sighed as she looked at the twin girls. She wanted children but when the only person she could have children with was biologically her son it just wasn't going to happen. "I wonder if I would've fallen pregnant to nano Rimmer if I'd slept with him when I had the opportunity. I seriously considered it while we were in the tank. Seeing these three looking so adorable, I wish that I did."

Rimmer and Lister shared a glance at Kristine. She didn't bring up the fact that she wanted children very often despite both men knowing that she wanted to be a mother, to have a family. They all wanted family. Lister and Rimmer since Jim and Bexley were born.

"I wonder if your Holly altered your memories like I did with Dave," Holly pondered. "I said that out loud didn't I?"

Kristine looked in shock at Holly, she'd never even considered that. "Why would she need to alter my memories?"

"The main differences between your dimension and this dimension has been that yours and Dave's roles were reversed. Do you really think that Hollister would send Rimmer to Io on his own? He didn't in this dimension so with you going into stasis he would've sent the closest person to Rimmer on the ship, that person is Dave Lister. At least that is what Hollister would've done for this dimension."

"Are you saying Dave, my Dave didn't really die on the ship?" Kristine asked in horror. "That he was like Rimmer and had a life without me."

She was pale thinking about who he could've possibly ended up with as she glanced between Dave and Rimmer. She suspected exactly who he would've ended up with if situations were reversed. But maybe they'd ended up with a similar relationship to the Lister and Rimmer she was currently with and not a romantic relationship.

"Oh my God, I've been in that dimension when I was Ace." Rimmer stuttered. He slumped into his chair looking pale. Lister looked on in interest, Rimmer never spoke about his time as Ace. Kristine was scared to know what the truth would end up being, from Rimmer's reaction it wasn't a platonic/sibling-like rivalry relationship.

"Well, what happened?" Lister prompted when Rimmer didn't go into a story like normal.

"I met Dave, the other me and McGruder well after the enquiry happened. They were all living on Earth, on a small Island. It wasn't Fiji, it was better than Fiji since they could afford more after the enquiry was over and with the combined pool of money going towards the property.


	2. Two

Rimmer cursed as the Wildfire faulted. Something had gone wrong with the engine and he didn't know how to fix it. He'd just finished fighting a GELF hoard and barely scrapped by with his life. He had no control over the dimension he was jumping to and didn't know if the dimension was going to be friendly, deadly, lonesome or something else entirely. He had very high potential of being stuck forever in some strange dimension and that scared him almost more than being killed by GELFs.

"I've pinpointed the Arnold Rimmer from this dimension," the computer crackled. He was given the coordinates for an Island on Earth. He took the ship into land just off the beach having no idea what he was going to find. At least it was nice and sunny.

He didn't have to go far to find his other self, he was already sitting on the beach with a small boy who could be no more than two.

"John?" his other self asked him, looking at the ship and back to him.

He was stunned at being called John, none of the other Rimmer's had ever called him his oldest brother's name before.

"I'm not John, I'm you from another dimension." He replied, trying to keep up the mask of Ace in front of his other self. The boy his other self was holding looked very much like Lister and it was throwing off what had become his normal performance, which honestly wasn't as Ace like as the computer liked.

"So the project worked in your dimension? Project Wildfire." Arnie asked. "John's involved in this dimension, but he's not able to tell me much, beyond the name."

"You and John are close?" Rimmer asked his other self in surprise. "We were never close." He admitted. So far he didn't want to bite this other Arnold's head off, that didn't happen very often and the only thing stopping him was the child.

"We only became close after the accident, ah coming from another dimension you probably don't know about it. I used to work on a JMC ship called the Red Dwarf. While I was away for my father's funeral there was a radiation leak that killed everyone on board. I hate that I have the old man to thank for my survival."

He watched Arnie run his hand's through his hair, in the same manner, he did himself.

"I know about the accident. I also come from the Red Dwarf, I died on the ship in the radiation leak. Holly resurrected me as a hologram to keep Dave Lister sane. I didn't find out about father's death until after I'd been turned on as a hologram."

Rimmer shuddered slightly at the smile that graced his other self's face at the mention of Lister. He glanced at the child again who looked too much like Lister, but also had features from his family. He wasn't liking where this was going.

"So how did you become a dimension traveller?" Arnie asked. Rimmer could tell his other self had more questions waiting to be asked.

"It's a long story," Rimmer replied.

Arnie looked at his watch before replying. "I have time. I don't need to pick the older three up from school for another two hours."

Arnie sat back on the sand, after a moment's hesitation, Rimmer joined him. The boy in Arnie's arm's looked content. Once he'd got his emotions under control Rimmer explained Ace's legacy and how he came to be Ace.

"Don't you miss Dave? Was it really wise to leave him all alone?" Arnie asked once he finished his story.

"I miss him," Rimmer admitted. He actually missed the whole misfit crew. "But he doesn't need me. He has Cat and Kryten. They'll look after him." Rimmer added with a heavy heart. "He hates me."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. You should go visit and see how he's managing. Maybe he'll surprise you." Arnie said, with the same smile that made Rimmer feel uneasy.

"I couldn't go home even if I wanted to. Wildfire has engine issues." Rimmer sighed. "I don't know how to fix it. Was never a good technician, despite my best efforts."

"Maybe Dave could look at it for you. As hard as it is to believe, that lazy bum is an engineer now. He can work his way around machines better than I can. Or maybe Yvonne can have a look, she's on Earth at the moment. She's used to engines on larger ships. Between the pair of them, we should have you up and running and back to your home dimension."

"Yvonne McGruder?" Rimmer asked. "She survived in this dimension."

"Yes, she didn't in yours?"

"No. How did she survive? How did Dave survive?"

"Hollister sent Dave to escort me to father's funeral, he expected me to cause a scene. Kochanski was meant to come, but she ended up in stasis for smuggling a cat. Hollister knew it was Dave's cat so sent him with me as a punishment for Dave as much as myself. Did you ever sleep with Yvonne?"

"Yes," Rimmer replied. "Not one of my best moments."

Arnie chuckled. "In this dimension, she ended up pregnant as a result of our liaison. We have a daughter Michelle, we call her Shelly for short."

Rimmer looked on in his own daydream. He always wanted to be a father, but never got the chance. The closest he ever got was Lister's twins for three short days and back then he couldn't even help with the boys in capacity he so wished for.

"So are you are together now?"

"I thought it was obvious that I'm with Dave. Yvonne and I still have a close friendship; she was the surrogate for our three boys. Jim and Bexley - twin handfuls and this one is David Arnold." Arnold pointed to the boy in his arms. "The twins used one of Yvonne's eggs so biologically they are hers and Dave's. Was a complete surprise to us since we'd only had one egg implanted. David Arnold is using new technology so he'd biologically mine and Dave's. Yvonne still carried him for us, we had the option of using an artificial uterus but she insisted she carried our other three children, she'd carry this one as well. Yvonne only calls herself Shelly's mother, she insists that the boys are all mine and Dave's." Arnie smiled as he told Rimmer about his family.

Rimmer was feeling jealous of his other self, another self who'd survived, had a family and was happy. Everything he wanted and would never have.

"How did that even happen? How did Dave end up with you, what about Kochanski? Is she still in stasis?" Rimmer dropped the Ace voice as he asked his questions. He had so many more that he wanted to ask, Arnie started talking before he could rattle off a dozen more.

"It's hard to be with someone who is not existing in time. It took Dave a while to move on. He'll always hold a place for Kristine in his heart, especially since he knows she's still alive out there somewhere and will be alone when she's released, long after we've been dead. During the trial, the three spent a lot of time together. We all became a lot closer as a result and they become my family after Shelly was born. Yvonne's more like a sister than a former partner.

"Dave was extremely supportive when the JMC and the Space Corp were trying to pin the whole accident on me and didn't ridicule me when they started bringing up my childhood. He grew up in foster care from the time his grandmother died and helped me to understand that the way mother and father treated me was never my own fault.

"When the trial was over Dave was the only one with a clear goal in mind. He wanted an Island farm on Earth. I just knew that I didn't want to go back to Io. Yvonne's family is on Earth and she wanted them to be involved in Shelly's life. So the three of us decided to move in together while Dave got his small farm with his animals he always dreamed about, near the beach.

"Yvonne tried to adjust to being a mother and giving up her career. I tried and failed to find work. Yvonne was getting depressed staying home every day and didn't feel like she was being useful. I was getting depressed at not being able to hold down a job if I was lucky enough to be hired. In the end Dave suggested that I stay home with Shelly and Yvonne go back to work as a trial.

"I enjoyed being a parent more than I ever thought I would. For the first time in my life I was happy, I was able to give up all my parents expectations for me because I was now a parent myself and needed to do my best for her. That's not to say that Yvonne doesn't care. She love's Shelly more than anything else in the world, just that she needs something more than tending to the house and children. She's with the Space Corps now and doing rather well for herself career wise and has a good relationship with Shelly and the boys. I never regretted my decision to become a stay at home father.

"Dave got bored of his animal farm very quickly. The farm animals were sold and we just have a cat and a dog now. Dave enjoys coming home and relaxing, looking over the ocean and fishing with myself and the kids on the weekend. With money for an education, he went back to school and started studying to become an engineer. He did very well and now works for the Space Corps. He stays on Earth most of the time, occasionally going to other planets and moons for short stints, he always comes back to Earth. The one place he feels at home."

"That's not true," a voice said from behind them.

Rimmer recognised that voice instantly as Lister. He turned around to see a more grown up version of the Lister he knew. The Lister he knew was trapped forever as a kid despite growing older every year physically. This Lister was a man, a father and looked grown up despite being the same age.

He watched in embarrassment when Dave kissed Arnie, then took David junior, reminding Rimmer very much of Lister with Jim and Bexley for the few short days they'd had them.

"Who's your friend, love," Lister asked.

"Me from another dimension," Arnie replied. "We're comparing differences."

"They are?" Dave asked.

"He didn't find out about father's funeral. You got put into stasis for smuggling your cat and Holly turned his hologram on for you after it was safe to come out of stasis. His Yvonne never had Michelle so she also died on the ship, as did Kristine."

"I wonder who Holly will turn on for Kristine when she gets released from stasis?" Dave looked towards the sky. He hoped that Kristine would be okay when she finally was released.

"No idea, maybe one of her girlfriends," Rimmer suggested, he didn't mention Tim what's his name who Kochanski used to date.

"She can't have you because you're mine now," Arnie added. "Other me is in a bit of a pickle. Would you be able to have a look at his dimension travelling ship while I pick the kids up from school?"

Dave nodded. "Rimmer, can you watch Dave junior for me while you tell me all about the trouble you're having."

Rimmer took the toddler who didn't seem to mind him at all. The child went and pulled the wig off his head.

"You look better without the wig," Dave chuckled.

"I agree, but sadly it goes with the job." Rimmer snapped, using his own voice.

"That's a lot better as well. You should be yourself instead of pretending to be something you're not. Arnie struggled with that for a long time, even after the kids were born, learning to love himself. He's been able to let go over time and be himself."

Rimmer could see where Dave was coming from, though he didn't want to admit it.

"Your son, he looks like my Dave's twins. Jim and Bexley." Rimmer said. He explained how they ended up with the twins in deep space without a woman. Dave laughing at his other self's predicament.

"Well, I'm glad that I'm not him," Dave said, closing up the panels on Wildfire. "Well she's not going to be working anytime soon. I'll get the guest bedroom setup, you're going to be here a while."


	3. Three

"I stayed with them for two months while Dave and Yvonne got the ship working between work commitments." Rimmer finished his story of the dimension he suspected was Kristine's. "The children called me Uncle Arnold while I was with them. As far as they were concerned I was a distant cousin to their papa who happened to have the same name, which isn't that unusual in the Rimmer family anyway. That was just before I found someone to replace me and I returned here."

Kristine was crying by the end of his story. "Dave was never my Dave."

"He did miss you Miss Kochanski, but he moved on. It wouldn't have been healthy for him to obsess over her ... you." Rimmer explained. Both were feeling down, Rimmer was a replacement and Kristine's Dave had also been a replacement for the original.

"We ended up together in Kris's dimension? And in this dimension, the you who left the ship ended up with Kris." Lister asked. "Any dimensions with us in a threesome."

"A few," Rimmer replied. Those stories could be saved for another time. Both looked at him not sure if they believed him or not.

"Do you have pictures of Dave and his family?" Kristine asked.

Rimmer nodded, he pulled up a file from his time as Ace that he normally kept private. "I've given you access."

"I'm going to go through everything in my room." Kristine left looking rather bewildered. Both hers and Rimmer's lives had been turned upside down.

Lister wasn't overly concerned about the past. "Rimmer, you should consider this another dimensions version of you. The same with the you the nanobots brought back. Neither of them are you. You're you and I'm glad that Holly brought you back. I am thankful that the Dave and Arnold from Kristine's home dimension were able to talk you into coming home. I missed you, you're me best mate and I don't want to live without you ever again, even if in the days when you annoy me like heck I wish you were gone. Those few years you were gone were hard enough. We just need to make our own future one that is happy as what they got." Lister pointed to the two alternate families Rimmer could of hand. "Can you keep reading to me about their lives and tell me more of your adventures as Ace?"

Rimmer sent him a smiled, what did it hurt to share with Lister. All he could do was tell the Cat and Kryten, both who didn't care.

 

Kryten was on shift watching the consoles. Mister Lister and Mister Rimmer were both in their quarters still going over the letters from the pod they'd found a number of months ago, like they had every night when they both had down time on the same nights. He saw Blue Midget leave the Red Dwarf. He knew that it was Miss Kochanski and was wondering why she'd gone out in the middle of the night. The closest thing to the Red Dwarf currently was over two months away. There was nothing to go to and see in space at the moment.

He brought up an external camera on that side of the ship and watched as it blinked out of reality. He kept waiting for her to blink into reality but nothing happened. Hours later when his shift had ended she still hadn't appeared. Doing a search of her quarters he found the note explaining what she'd done. She'd gone home to her original dimension.

Kryten looked at the time, Mister Lister was due for breakfast. He put together a meal for his favourite human and the hologram he shared his room with. Still Miss Kochanski had not returned, he'd waited another hour just to be sure she wasn't coming back, hiding the letter in a place Mister Lister would never look, his sock draw. His favourite human still asleep.

"Activating lie mode," Kryten said before walking through the door, this time with breakfast. Making sure he had an appropriate face for the news he was about to deliver, waking Mister Lister up from his sleep.

"Oh I have terrible news Mister Lister," Kryten cried out.

"What is it Kryten?" Lister asked, not at all looking concerned. "Has Hogey found us again? I don't really feel like a duel to the death through time and space today." He rolled over to face the wall.

"Oh no it's worse than that. Just terrible. Oh sir, you're not going to like it." Kryten exclaimed.

"Did you burn something while ironing?" Rimmer asked, also not looking too concerned either. He was sitting at the table reading a book. He hadn't noticed earlier when Kryten entered the room to put the letter in the sock draw.

"Worse," Kryten whined, proud of his lie mode. "It's Miss Kochanski."

Lister rolled over to face Kryten, that had got his attention.

"What about her?" Rimmer asked, wondering what Kryten would complain about this time when it came to the only female onboard. Usually it was about her laundry.

"Oh it's just awful. One of the external doors malfunctioned and sucked her straight into deep space. I tried to stop it but I was too late." Kryten cried. "Miss Kochanski, she's dead."

"What!" Rimmer said, book slamming shut and onto the table. "Why didn't you say something right away, which airlock?" He was standing, ready to attempt to at least recover her body to the surprise of Kryten.

Kryten had never known Mister Rimmer to willingly rescue a dead body. It had to be because of the mail pod. All three humans had been acting strange since the arrival of the mail pod.

"No, this can't be real." Lister cried as he ran down the hallway followed by Rimmer to Starbug to attempt to recover Miss Kochanski's body. Kryten knew they'd never find her. He'd made the right choice telling them she was dead. If they knew she'd found a way back to her home dimension Mister Lister would try to follow her there and he was sure that Mister Rimmer would help and he had the means to follower her if he put his mind to it. Kryten had read the files from when Mister Rimmer was Ace, he had the means.

Kryten attempted to push his guilt back, telling himself that it was for the best that Mister Lister believe Miss Kochanski to be dead. It would break his heart in a different way if he knew she'd abandoned him.


End file.
